03 MARCH 2015

On the Move: SecondsOut World Rankings 3/20/11

Bute (r) SecondsOut No.2 Super-middle pic Tom Casino

By Derek Bonnett: While many of the USA’s top college basketball teams competed in hotly contested, buzzer beater match-ups during the early rounds of the NCAA tournament this week, the world boxing scene presented fans with a series of blowouts administered by a multitude of SecondsOut’s ranked fighters. The movement this week did not involve the current standings of SecondsOut’s best, but, rather, the unfortunate opponents, who were mostly unranked. Their movement, to quote Bruce Springsteen, is "going down, down, down."

On Saturday, March 19, at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Lucian Bute dropped Brian Magee three times (four in reality, but one was ruled a low blow) to force a tenth round stoppage in an IBF super middleweight title bout. Bute further affirmed his standing as one of the sport’s premiere body punchers as he broke down the game Magee. Bute improved his dossier to 28-0 (23) and notched the seventh defense of his championship. Magee fell, literally, to 34-4-1 (24).

Bute remains number two at SecondsOut behind Andre Ward. Due to his exclusion from the Super Six tournament, Bute simply has not faced the type of opposition as Ward over the past year to move ahead in the rankings. However, if Bute can defeat Mikkel Kessler in impressive fashion, he may pass out Ward, who defeated Kessler in dominating fashion to begin the tournament.

Also on the card, Vanes Martirosyan blasted Bladimir Hernandez in two rounds in a junior middleweight bout. Martirosyan took the easy route to extend his unbeaten streak to 29-0 (18). Hernandez dropped to 18-5 (16). It was Hernandez’ fourth straight KO loss.

Martirosyan remains number eight at SecondsOut among the world’s best 154 pounders. His next opponent is scheduled to be Saul Roman in April, who won’t do much to enhance Martirosyan’s ranking either.

Also on Saturday, March 19, at Lanxess-Arena in Cologne, Germany, Vitali Klitschko made quick work of Odlanier Solis in the first round of a WBC heavyweight title bout. Solis appeared to injure his knee after getting dropped late in the first round and the bout came to a halt. Klitschko raised his ledger to 42-2 (39). Solis tasted defeat for the first time and dropped to 17-1 (12).

Vitali holds his standing as the number two ranked heavyweight at SecondsOut and has done a good job of stealing the unbeaten records of today’s younger contenders. Solis is dropped from the top ten. Chris Arreola re-enters the rankings at number eight to fill the void.

Also on the card, Ola Afolabi defeated Lubos Suda in five rounds of a cruiserweight bout. Afolabi improved his record to 16-2-3 (7) with the TKO. Suda fell to 23-4-1 (15).Afolabi hangs on to his number ten ranking at 200 pounds in the eyes of SecondsOut. Elsewhere on Saturday, March 19, at City West Hotel in Dublin Ireland, Guillermo Rigondeaux annihilated Willie Casey in one round of their interim WBA super bantamweight bout. Rigondeaux raised his numbers to 8-0 (6). Casey fell to 11-1 (7).Rigondeaux holds his place at sixth among the world’s best 122 pounders, but needs to develop against something better than no-hopers if he is to advance his way up the rankings.

Elsewhere on Saturday, March 19, in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, Roman Gonzalez defeated Manuel Vargas over twelve rounds in a competitive WBA junior flyweight title bout. Gonzalez remained unbeaten and now stands at 28-0 (23) with one defense of his title under his belt. Vargas, an experienced veteran, dropped to 29-8-1 (14).

Gonzalez maintained his standing at 108 pounds, but beating Vargas was no easy task. However, the longer standing Giovanni Segura and Ivan Calderon deserve to be ranked ahead of Gonzalez until their rematch. If things go according to plan, Gonzalez-Segura could become the biggest match-up of junior flyweights since Carbajal-Gonzalez I.

On the same evening, at Cebu City Waterfront Hotel in Cebu, Philippines, Milan Melindo dispatched Rosendo Vega in one round of a flyweight bout. Melindo augmented his record to 24-0 (8) with his first bout of 2011. Vega dropped to 16-7 (11).Melindo keeps his number five ranking at 112 pounds just below the four titlists.

SecondsOut ranked fighters in action through Sunday, March 27 :On Tuesday, March 22: